JP2002196912A - Copier with memory function - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a copier with a memory function for easily organizing a database by adding data other than limited ones specified by the main body of the copier to the original data. SOLUTION: The copier MC with a memory function adds prescribed control data including the name of an owner specifying client computers PC1-PCn on the network NW for transmitting image data to the image data of a document read by an image reading part, then the image data with the control data are temporarily stored in a memory. After that, based on the name of the owner to which the image data in the memory is added, the data are transmitted in a prescribed format to the target client computer PC1-PCn. When the data with arbitrary data added by the client computer PC1-PCn are sent back in the prescribed format to the copier MC, the copier MC transmits the image data with the control data and the added data in the prescribed format to a server SV connected to the network NW, and makes the server SV manage the image data as the database.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a copying machine with a memory function, and more particularly, to a database by adding information other than limited information that can be designated by the copying machine body to data. The present invention relates to a copier with a memory function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image of a document read by an image reading section is temporarily stored in a memory, and then subjected to necessary image processing, for example, rearrangement in reverse page order, change of image direction, and the like. A copier with a memory function for recording and outputting on a recording sheet in an image recording section has appeared.

In such a copier with a memory function, limited management information such as device information and a capture time (image capture time) is added to the image data stored in the memory, and the image data with the information is added. It has the function of recording and outputting on recording paper.

[0004]

However, in such a conventional copying machine with a memory function, the information that can be added to the image data is limited to the management information described above, and the user needs There is a problem that the corresponding information cannot be added as additional information, and the usability of the image data is poor.

[0005] In order to solve this problem, to add various kinds of additional information to image data, conventionally, a copying machine with a memory function reads the image data and stores the image data in a memory to a server via a LAN or the like. After the image data is transferred and the image data is converted into a database by the server, necessary additional information can be manually added. However, such a method has a problem in that the efficiency is low and the usability is low.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a copying machine with a memory function that allows a user to easily add necessary information to data and to create a database for management.

[0007] More specifically, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that predetermined management information including transmission destination information for specifying a client device on a network transmitting the image data to image data of a document read by the image reading means. After adding
Once stored in a memory, based on the transmission destination information to which the image data in the memory is added, the image data is transmitted to a destination client device in a predetermined format.
When any additional information is added to the image data and sent back in a predetermined format, the image data with the management information and the additional information added is transmitted to a server connected to the network in a predetermined format. By causing the server to manage the image data in a database, the image data is distributed by adding transmission destination information for specifying the distribution destination to the normal management information to the read image data, and the image data is distributed to the client of the transmission destination. Any additional information is added by the device, the image data with the additional information is managed by the server based on the management information, and any additional information is easily and appropriately added, and the image data is easily converted into a database. It is an object of the present invention to provide a copying machine with a memory function capable of improving the usability of the printer.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, by transmitting and receiving image data to and from a client device in a mail format, the image data can be transmitted to the client device more simply and inexpensively simply by adding a network interface. Any additional information can be added, and any additional information can be added more easily and inexpensively.
An object of the present invention is to provide a copying machine with a memory function that can easily improve the usability of image data as a database.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when arbitrary data such as image data is received from a client device, predetermined management information is added to the received data, and the data to which the management information is added is transmitted to a server. And on the server,
By creating and managing the data in a database, the client device creates only the basic information using the mail tool and sends it to the copier with memory function. It is an object of the present invention to provide a copying machine with a memory function which can be managed in a simplified manner and which is more usable.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a copying machine with a memory function is connected to a network in which a plurality of client devices and a server having a database function are connected to each other. A copy machine with a memory function for transmitting and receiving data via the network, wherein predetermined management including transmission destination information for specifying the client device transmitting the image data to image data of a document read by image reading means After the information is added, the image data in the memory is temporarily stored in the memory, and the image data in the memory is transmitted to the destination client device in a predetermined format based on the added destination information. When any additional information is added to the image data and sent back in a predetermined format, the management information and The additional image data of the additional information is transmitted to the server in a predetermined format, by managing a database of the image data to the server, it has achieved the above objects.

According to the above arrangement, after adding predetermined management information including transmission destination information for specifying a client device on the network transmitting the image data to the image data of the document read by the image reading means, the image data is temporarily stored in the memory. And transmits the image data in the memory to the destination client device in a predetermined format based on the added transmission destination information, and the client device adds any additional information to the image data. Then, when sent back in a predetermined format, the image data to which the management information and the additional information are added is transmitted in a predetermined format to a server connected to the network, and the server converts the image data into a database. Distribute image data by adding transmission destination information that specifies the distribution destination to the normal management information to the scanned image data Thus, the client device of the transmission destination can add arbitrary additional information, and can cause the server to manage the image data to which the additional information has been added based on the management information, and easily and appropriately add the arbitrary additional information. It is possible to improve the usability of the image data easily by making a database.

In this case, for example, the copying machine with the memory function may transmit and receive the image data to and from the client device in a mail format.

According to the above configuration, image data is transmitted / received to / from the client device in a mail format. Therefore, image data can be transmitted to the client device more easily and inexpensively by simply adding a network interface. Information can be added, and any additional information can be added more easily and inexpensively, and the usability of image data can be easily improved as a database.

Further, for example, when the copying machine with the memory function receives arbitrary data such as image data from the client device, the copying machine with the memory function adds predetermined management information to the received data. Then, the data to which the management information is added may be transmitted to the server, and the server may manage the data in a database.

According to the above configuration, when any data such as image data is received from the client device, predetermined management information is added to the received data, and the data to which the management information is added is transmitted to the server. Since the server makes the data into a database and manages it, the client device creates only basic information using the mail tool and sends it to the copier with the memory function without writing all the detailed information to the server. Data can be stored in a database and managed, and usability can be further improved.

[0016]

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the embodiments described below are preferred embodiments of the present invention, and therefore, various technically preferable limitations are added. However, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the following description. The embodiments are not limited to these embodiments unless otherwise specified.

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a network system 1 to which an embodiment of a copying machine with a memory function according to the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 1, a network system 1
Is connected to a network NW by a copier MC with a memory function, a plurality of client computers PC1 to PCn, and a server SV.

The copying machine MC with a memory function is an image reading section (image reading means) for reading a document image at a predetermined resolution by scanning the document set on the document table in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction.
A memory for storing image data read by the image reading unit; an image recording unit for recording an image on recording paper in an electrophotographic manner based on the image data in the memory or the image data read by the image reading unit; It has various keys for instructing the operation of the copier MC with functions, and an operation display unit having a display unit for displaying various information. The copier MC with a memory function uses a network interface for transmitting and receiving mails between the client computers PC1 to PCn and the server SV via the network NW, and a Web browser from the client computers PC1 to PCn and the server SV. And an accessible Web interface. The copying machine MC with a memory function is connected to each of the client computers PC1 to PC1 via a network NW as necessary.
The data sent from Cn or the server SV is recorded and output on recording paper by the image recording unit.

Each of the client computers (client devices) PC1 to PCn is, for example, a personal computer and has an image data control tool. The users are client computers PC1 to PC
By activating the image data control tool installed in n, the display screen can control the copier MC with a memory function, in particular, the Web editing function.

The server SV has a large-capacity storage device,
Data sent from the copier MC with memory function or the client computers PC1 to PCn via the network NW is converted into a database in a predetermined database format, stored in a storage unit, and performs database management.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described. The following description is based on the assumption that the materials to be distributed to the conference are copied. First, the manuscript of the materials to be distributed is copied by a copying machine MC with a memory function. Input the specification of
Specify the owner name that is the transmission destination information. The owner name is stored in the memory in advance in correspondence with the owner name and the addresses of the client computers PC1 to PCn of the owner on the network NW.

In the copying machine MC with the memory function, when the number of copies and the owner name are specified, and other necessary operations are performed on the operation display unit, and the start key is turned on,
The image of the document is read by the image reading unit, and the read image data of the document is captured for transfer to the server SV and stored in the memory. The copying machine MC with the memory function sends the image data in the mail format to the client computers PC1 to PCn of each user based on the owner information attached to the captured image data.
The data sent at this time includes the capture time, owner name,
It is management information such as device information and an image (image data).

Each user writes arbitrary additional information such as a keyword, a title, and a comment in the mail sent to the client computers PC1 to PCn and replies to the copying machine MC with a memory function. .

The mail sent from the copying machine MC with a memory function to each of the client computers PC1 to PCn has a fixed format in the present embodiment, and the user of the client computers PC1 to PCn sends the mail to the client computer PC1 to PCn. Can be replied as it is.

The copying machine MC with the memory function receives the mail which each user has replied from the client computers PC1 to PCn, converts the mail into a data format to be transmitted to the server SV, and transfers the data to the server SV. Therefore, the image data transmitted from the copier MC with the memory function to the server SV includes the management information added by the copier MC with the memory function and the client computers PC1 to PC
The additional information added by Cn is added.

The copying machine MC with the memory function may transmit the mail sent from the client computers PC1 to PCn to the server SV as it is without converting the data.

The server SV is a copying machine MC with a memory function.
The data sent from the server is converted into a database in a database format, stored in a storage device, and managed in a database.

As described above, the copying machine MC with a memory function according to the present embodiment specifies the client computers PC1 to PCn on the network NW for transmitting the image data to the image data of the original read by the image reading unit. After adding predetermined management information including an owner name as destination information, the information is temporarily stored in a memory, and image data in the memory is transmitted to client computers PC1 to PCn of transmission destinations based on the added owner name. When the client computer PC1 to PCn sends back the image data with arbitrary additional information to the image data, the image data to which the management information and the additional information are added is transmitted to the client computer PC1 to PCn. Network NW in the form of
Is transmitted to the server SV connected to the server SV to make the server SV manage the image data in a database.

Therefore, the read image data is distributed by adding the owner name for specifying the distribution destination to the ordinary management information, and the client computer PC1 to PCn of the transmission destination adds any additional information. In addition, the server SV can manage the image data to which the additional information has been added based on the management information, and any additional information can be easily and appropriately added. Can be improved.

The copying machine MC with a memory function exchanges image data with the client computers PC1 to PCn in a mail format.

Therefore, the image data can be transmitted to the client computers PC1 to PCn and any additional information can be added simply and inexpensively simply by adding a network interface. In addition to being inexpensive, the usability of image data can be easily improved as a database.

Further, when data is sent from each of the client computers PC1 to PCn in the above mail format, the copying machine MC with a memory function converts the data into a fixed data format to be transmitted to the server SV. At the same time, management information such as a device name, a function, and time is attached and transferred to the server SV. The copying machine MC with a memory function is connected to client computers PC1 to PC
n without converting the email sent from
It may be transmitted to the server SV as it is in a mail format. Further, the data transmitted from each of the client computers PC1 to PCn to the copying machine MC with a memory function can be handled in a similar manner even if the data is not in the mail format.

Therefore, the client computer P
By creating only basic information using a mail tool at C1 to PCn and sending it to the copier MC with a memory function, data can be stored in a database in the server SV and managed without describing all the detailed information. The usability can be further improved.

As described above, the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the preferred embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. It goes without saying that it is possible.

[0036]

According to the copying machine with the memory function of the present invention, the transmission destination information for specifying the client device on the network that transmits the image data to the image data of the original read by the image reading means. After adding the predetermined management information including the image data, the image data in the memory is temporarily stored in the memory, and the image data in the memory is transmitted to the destination client device in a predetermined format based on the added transmission destination information,
When any additional information is added to the image data in the client device and sent back in a predetermined format, the management information and the image data to which the additional information is added are transferred to the server connected to the network in a predetermined format. To the server, and causes the server to manage the image data in a database. The image data is delivered by adding transmission destination information for specifying the delivery destination to the normal management information to the read image data. Any additional information can be added by the destination client device, and the image data to which the additional information has been added can be managed by the server based on the management information, and any additional information can be easily and appropriately added. By using a database, the usability of image data can be easily improved.

According to the copying machine with the memory function of the second aspect of the present invention, image data is transmitted and received between the client device and the client device in a mail format. Can be added to the client device to add any additional information, and any additional information can be added more easily and inexpensively, and the usability of image data can be easily improved as a database. Can be.

According to the copying machine with the memory function of the third aspect, when any data such as image data is received from the client device, predetermined management information is added to the received data, and then the management information is added. Is transmitted to the server, and the server makes the data into a database and manages it. Therefore, the client device creates only basic information using a mail tool and sends it to the copying machine with the memory function. Without describing all the information,
The data can be stored in a database in the server and managed, and the usability can be further improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a network system to which an embodiment of a copying machine with a memory function according to the present invention is applied;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Network System NW Network MC Copier with Memory Function PC1 to PCn Client Device SV Server

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 1/387 H04N 1/387 5C073 // B41J 5/30 B41J 5/30 Z 5C076 29/40 29/40 ZF term (reference) 2C061 AP01 AP04 HN15 HQ06 HQ17 2C087 AA09 AA13 BA03 BB10 BC07 BD09 2H027 EE08 EJ08 EJ15 5B021 AA19 BB02 EE01 5C062 AA05 AA13 AA35 AB38 AB42 AC22 AC24 AF04 ACO3

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A copying machine with a memory function, connected to a network in which a plurality of client devices and a server having a database function are connected, and transmitting and receiving data to and from the client device and the server via the network. After adding predetermined management information including transmission destination information for specifying the client device that transmits the image data to the image data of the document read by the image reading unit, the image data is temporarily stored in a memory, and the image data in the memory is temporarily stored in the memory. Is transmitted to the client device of the transmission destination in a predetermined format based on the transmission destination information that is added, and the client device sends back the image data in a predetermined format with any additional information added thereto. Then, the image data to which the management information and the additional information are added is transmitted to the server in a predetermined format. To the memory function copying machine, characterized in that to manage a database of the image data to the server. 2. The copier with a memory function according to claim 1, wherein the copier with a memory function transmits and receives the image data to and from the client device in a mail format. 3. The copier with a memory function, upon receiving any data such as image data from the client device, adds predetermined management information to the received data, and then copies the data to which the management information has been added. The copier with a memory function according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the copier with a memory function is transmitted to the server and causes the server to manage the data in a database.